When Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up after a car accident, she finds herself trapped in an underground bunker. Injured and disoriented, she meets Howard (John Goodman), who brough her underground, and claims that the outside world has been destroyed by a chemical attack. Along with Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.), the group try to survive together, as mistrust starts to grow inside the bunker.
10 Cloverfield Lane is a film that really came out of nowhere. The trailer certainly did, and since this movie was essentially already made and then re-purposed into a Cloverfield anthology film, nobody really knew what to expect. In terms of how it's made, the film is without a doubt in sharp contrast to the first Cloverfield because of its extremely smaller scale, so I really didn't know what this film would be like. Luckily, the film stands on its own very well, and while its title is the only reason that anyone saw it, it doesn't rely on the brand too heavily.
Because it's essentially just three people in a room for the majority of the run-time, the film relies heavily on its actors and characters. Thankfully, those two elements are fantastic, and showcase superb acting and writing. Even moments where people just sit and talk were some of the most engaging in the film, because the actors brought so much to their characters. So much was conveyed with the subtle changes in facial expressions and the way that everyday tasks were performed. Each backstory was very well-defined and fleshed-out, and as more information about each character was revealed, it made the dynamics between them evolve very interestingly and very unpredictably.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is one of my favourite actors, and with every film she seems to get better. In this film, she's the core of the story, and if she hadn't managed to balance every part of her character so well, this film wouldn't have been nearly as engaging as it is. Even though she has moments of real warmth and friendliness, it's all covering an undercurrent of fear and apprehension. She's also a very capable character, and seeing how her plan for survival developed over the film was very well handled. John Goodman is terrifying, and what really sold his character was how quickly he could switch from soft and quiet to loud and overpowering. There's always anger simmering just below the surface of Howard, and you never quite know when he's going to explode. John Gallagher Jr. didn't have too much to do, but he played the empathetic, supportive character that the film needed very well. His character was still very interesting, as he went back-and-forth between naïveté and bravery.
This film absolutely nails the feeling of claustrophobia, mainly because the environment of the bunker is a very detailed and unique one. It has a very distinct design, and it was fascinating to see how the characters function together within it. It does feel like a safe haven, but it also has a constant feeling of unease. Something that really surprised me about the script was just how smart it was. Details that seemed insignificant were brought back in very intelligent and natural ways, and what I especially liked was that the characters were intelligent as well. The plot doesn't develop because of mistakes that the characters make; instead, it's driven by what they can do, and is paced based on their limitations. The story doesn't rely on twists too heavily, but there's a consistently unsettling atmosphere present throughout the film that always kept me on edge. Everything just felt "off", and as more information about Howard and the bunker was revealed, the sense of dread started to mix with tension more and more.
If there's any complaints that I have about the film, it's that it goes through a pretty heavy tonal shift in the last twenty minutes. It didn't break my experience with the film in an way, it was sort of consistent with some elements of the film, and the true ending was solid, but it was still noticeable. I'm pretty sure that the shift in tone came more from the re-shoots that made it a Cloverfield movie than anything, but the connection is still extremely tenuous. The connections between the series might all make sense when the third of these films rolls around (and there is one currently in production), but for now it seems like they just wanted to get some more money from an indie film that JJ Abrams saw an opportunity with. Again, that's not a bad thing, because the film is still solid on its own.
10 Cloverfield Lane is a very interesting movie, mostly because it represents a unique new way that a franchise can be developed. Aside from that, it works very well as a contained, small, well-written and directed thriller. It's a showcase for fantastic acting, and proves that a science fiction story doesn't need to be on a huge scale to be engaging and entertaining. It doesn't even necessarily enter science fiction territory until the end, and the human element is where it really excels. I have no idea where the next Cloverfield anthology film is going, but if it goes in yet another completely different direction, I'm interested to see what that will be. It remains to be seen whether all of the films will function together well, but 10 Cloverfield Lane certainly functions on its own.
10 Cloverfield Lane is a film that really came out of nowhere. The trailer certainly did, and since this movie was essentially already made and then re-purposed into a Cloverfield anthology film, nobody really knew what to expect. In terms of how it's made, the film is without a doubt in sharp contrast to the first Cloverfield because of its extremely smaller scale, so I really didn't know what this film would be like. Luckily, the film stands on its own very well, and while its title is the only reason that anyone saw it, it doesn't rely on the brand too heavily.
Because it's essentially just three people in a room for the majority of the run-time, the film relies heavily on its actors and characters. Thankfully, those two elements are fantastic, and showcase superb acting and writing. Even moments where people just sit and talk were some of the most engaging in the film, because the actors brought so much to their characters. So much was conveyed with the subtle changes in facial expressions and the way that everyday tasks were performed. Each backstory was very well-defined and fleshed-out, and as more information about each character was revealed, it made the dynamics between them evolve very interestingly and very unpredictably.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is one of my favourite actors, and with every film she seems to get better. In this film, she's the core of the story, and if she hadn't managed to balance every part of her character so well, this film wouldn't have been nearly as engaging as it is. Even though she has moments of real warmth and friendliness, it's all covering an undercurrent of fear and apprehension. She's also a very capable character, and seeing how her plan for survival developed over the film was very well handled. John Goodman is terrifying, and what really sold his character was how quickly he could switch from soft and quiet to loud and overpowering. There's always anger simmering just below the surface of Howard, and you never quite know when he's going to explode. John Gallagher Jr. didn't have too much to do, but he played the empathetic, supportive character that the film needed very well. His character was still very interesting, as he went back-and-forth between naïveté and bravery.
This film absolutely nails the feeling of claustrophobia, mainly because the environment of the bunker is a very detailed and unique one. It has a very distinct design, and it was fascinating to see how the characters function together within it. It does feel like a safe haven, but it also has a constant feeling of unease. Something that really surprised me about the script was just how smart it was. Details that seemed insignificant were brought back in very intelligent and natural ways, and what I especially liked was that the characters were intelligent as well. The plot doesn't develop because of mistakes that the characters make; instead, it's driven by what they can do, and is paced based on their limitations. The story doesn't rely on twists too heavily, but there's a consistently unsettling atmosphere present throughout the film that always kept me on edge. Everything just felt "off", and as more information about Howard and the bunker was revealed, the sense of dread started to mix with tension more and more.
If there's any complaints that I have about the film, it's that it goes through a pretty heavy tonal shift in the last twenty minutes. It didn't break my experience with the film in an way, it was sort of consistent with some elements of the film, and the true ending was solid, but it was still noticeable. I'm pretty sure that the shift in tone came more from the re-shoots that made it a Cloverfield movie than anything, but the connection is still extremely tenuous. The connections between the series might all make sense when the third of these films rolls around (and there is one currently in production), but for now it seems like they just wanted to get some more money from an indie film that JJ Abrams saw an opportunity with. Again, that's not a bad thing, because the film is still solid on its own.
10 Cloverfield Lane is a very interesting movie, mostly because it represents a unique new way that a franchise can be developed. Aside from that, it works very well as a contained, small, well-written and directed thriller. It's a showcase for fantastic acting, and proves that a science fiction story doesn't need to be on a huge scale to be engaging and entertaining. It doesn't even necessarily enter science fiction territory until the end, and the human element is where it really excels. I have no idea where the next Cloverfield anthology film is going, but if it goes in yet another completely different direction, I'm interested to see what that will be. It remains to be seen whether all of the films will function together well, but 10 Cloverfield Lane certainly functions on its own.
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